Description of the attraction
Hohenbregenz Fortress rises on Mount St. Gebhard at an altitude of 600 meters above sea level. It is located a kilometer southeast of the city of Bregenz. Now only ruins remain of the medieval building, but a more modern church has survived.
For the first time, defensive fortifications appeared on this place at the end of the 11th century, and the estimated date of completion of construction is 1097. The first written mention of the fortress dates back to 1209. During the Middle Ages, the castle was owned by various noble families, including Counts von Bregenz, Counts von Pfullendorf and Counts Palatine von Tübingen. And since 1451, the fortress passed into the possession of the Habsburgs themselves, the famous imperial dynasty.
At the beginning of the 17th century, the castle was even more fortified and rebuilt, but this did not save it from destruction during the Thirty Years War. The fortress was blown up in 1647 and captured by Swedish troops.
After the war, only ruins remained from the castle. However, they were soon chosen by wandering hermit monks and founded a skete here, dedicated to Saint Gebhard, Bishop of Constance and the patron saint of the whole land of Vorarlberg. The mountain quickly became a popular pilgrimage site, and a temple was built on the site of a small hermitage in 1723. The modern church of Saints Gebhard and George was rebuilt after a fire in 1791. Now it contains a sacred relic - the hand of St. Gebhard, donated in 1821 by the large Benedictine abbey of Petershausen. The inside of the church is painted with amazing frescoes from 1896-1897.
Now the Hohenbregenz Castle is a whole architectural complex consisting of the ruins of the walls of a medieval fortress and a temple from the end of the 18th century. In the middle of the 20th century, several castle premises were reconstructed, where now there is a gallery of portraits of representatives of the Habsburg dynasty and a museum of weapons that have survived from the Thirty Years War. Also on the territory of the castle there is a luxurious restaurant with a terrace offering stunning views of Lake Constance.
